#halstead!daughter

Fine line

Relations: Jay Halstead!daughter, Will Halstead!niece Warnings: fire, near death experience, injury, swearing, Use of Y/n Requested: Yes, by anon - Thank you for your request and sorry it took so long to complete it. Word count: 2.6k Gif not mine - credits to the owner

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When Jay first heard about the fire on the TV playing in the background of the intelligence unit he had to rewind it to make sure he heard right. Adam, Kim and Kevin looked up from their paper work too and it was at that moment that Voight came out from his office. “Go on Halstead. Someone will pick up your paperwork.” Jay just nodded and ran off, just about remembering to grap his car keys. The first person he called was Pat; no answer. Y/n was next; again, no answer. Lights and sirens on he just gripped the wheel tighter as he demanded that Siri call Will, who couldn’t even get a word out as soon as he picked up the phone, “have you heard from Dad or Y/n?” Will took a second to catch up but quickly answered, “no no I haven’t, what’s wrong?” “There’s a fire at Dad’s apartment building, Y/n’s school was off so I dropped her off at Dad’s this morning. I’m on my way now, just call me if you hear anything.” Jay hung up the phone and stepped on the accelerator. God, if anything happened… No. He couldn’t think like that, not about Y/n. By the time he got to the scene there were at least 7 fire engines and 12 ambulances, he didn’t talk to anyone, just showed his badge and went on through. No one would stop him if they knew what was good for them. All he could hear were screams of desperation, people shouting for their loved ones and crowds, he pushed past some and tried to avoid those who looked frailer. There were firefighters everywhere and in the middle of all the action was Chief Boden, just the one he was looking to see. “Chief, my Dad and daughter are somewhere in the building, I need to find them, none of them are answering their phones.” Boden nodded, “what apartment are they in?” “23C, my dad just had bypass surgery a month ago and I can’t loose Y/n, she’s my whole world.” He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up at Boden, “we’ll find them.”

Jay was acutely aware that he didn’t mention anything about them being alive and it set his nerves alight. He watched as Boden radioed ahead to Casey who radioed back that they were just clearing the floor below and then would be right up to check. Easing little of Jay’s nerves, he asked if he could help in any way and was thankful to be given the job of crowd control; at least he could get out some of his anger at entitled residents complaining about their stuff being lost and trying to go back for it. He quickly took up the role, although his mind didn't once leave the thought of his daughter.

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About 15 minutes later, he was found by Boden, who was also looking apprehensive about the news that was possibly going to be heard. “Good news, we found Mr Halstead and he’s on his way down with an escort. We’ll have the paramedics assess him when he gets down.” The crackle of the radio came to life; it was Casey's voice. Jay could feel his heart in his throat, a massive lump gathered there, and he couldn’t breathe, let alone talk.

“What of Y/n Halstead? Is she there?” Boden stepped in for him, for which he was thankful. This was the worst feeling in the world. Y/n still wasn’t answering his or Will’s phone calls. Why of all days did this have to happen today when his sweet girl was in the tower? Pat could handle himself; he knew that, but his child must be so scared. Jay could feel the tears threatening to fall. She had to be in there, please. Someone had to find her.

“Are you sure she was here at the time of the fire?” Jay pulled a hand over his face, no he didn’t but why would she be out? “No, but she would’ve went out with Pat for his walk in the morning and got back by now. She wasn’t going to meet friends today.” His mind kept racing, he felt tears slip down his face but he couldn’t bring himself to care. “I need to talk to Dad and call Will to update him but if I hear anything I’ll let you know.” Boden nodded, “We’ll find her Jay, even if it’s the last thing we do. We’ll get her back to you.” Jay couldn’t bring himself to talk, he gave the fire chief a tight smile and curt nod.

Calling Will, he updated him on the situation that they had found Pat but no sign of Y/n in the apartment. Will felt his heart break for Jay, who he knew was struggling over the phone. “I can come over and see if I can help. Goodwin has offered..” The offer stood, but it wasn’t answered; the phone just hung up. Will sighed. He knew Jay didn’t want any pity, but it was hard when he was worried too.

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Y/n spluttered. It was getting harder to breathe, and her 13 year old body was struggling to push the old man up out of his apartment, which was not the least bit wheelchair accessible. Poor Mr Strouce was still waiting for a ground floor apartment. “Honey, you need to get going; the smoke is starting to get too thick up here.” The older man advised, he gave you a concerned look “I’ll be fine Mr Strouce, we need to get you outta here too” You smiled at the older man as you struggled to push the wheelchair closer to the door, you could no longer tell if the sparks that flew around your vision were from the fire or lack of oxygen; you hoped it was neither. Closing your eyes to clear your head was such a relief, so much so that they stayed closed.

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Jay caught up with Pat who was in a good enough state to be able to tell him we’re Y/n is; in the building on the 25th floor, or “at least that’s where she said she was going” Jay ran a stressed hand over his hair as he tried to make a dash for the stairs before he was stopped by Boden, naturally, he failed and was told that there wouldn’t be a cop dying at his fire site. “She’s in 25C with a wheelchair bound man, someone needs to check there. Please.” Boden radioed yet again and all Jay could do was pace. He didn’t want to be anywhere near his father, with that attitude how the hell did he think it would be safe enough to leave Y/n with him?

Heart palpitations, sweaty hands and shakiness were all that accompanied Jay Halstead as he sat on the kerb waiting for news of his daughter. As firemen and women rushed by him, he looked up to see if his daughter was with them, and when she wasn’t, his heart hurt even more. He had started crying long ago and quite frankly, didn’t even care; he just wanted his little girl.

He found that he couldn't sit still any longer and began pacing, checking his watch every 30 or so seconds. That’s when he heard the radio again, “I have Y/n and Mr Strouce, we're bringing them down now. Y/n doesn't look to be in a good condition." Jay's mouth went completely dry almost as if he had been blasting hot air into his mouth with a hairdryer. Unable to comprehend what he had just heard he turned and before he could do anything a pain went through his hand, he opened his eyes to see a whole in the wall the same size as his fist. the gut-wrenching blow which went through and through just like a bullet, leaving the feeling that he was bleeding out.

It felt like forever until he saw Stella and Hermann racing down the stairs with an unconscious female, he was in flight mode, he made his way after the two firefighters shouting at people in the way to move so they could get her to the ambulance faster.

Jay was silent on the way to med, he’d called ahead to Will to tell him that they were coming and that you weren’t in the best condition. Jay held your hand, just like he always did when you were younger. He watched through blurry vision as tears dropped silently onto the gurney; he couldn’t bear to remove his hands from yours to wipe them.

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It has all happened so fast, between getting into hospital and you being rushed into surgery. Will had long forgotten his job to be there for his brother as he tried so hard to remain strong himself. It was literal hours before Jay and Will both got news about Y/n's surgery and when they did, it was the best news that they could have hoped for. Y/n was alive and relatively stable for the most part although her surgery was pretty extensive as they had to fix the damage which she had done to her heart under the stress of the fire.

Being able to finally see his Daughter in the PICU was a relief to him, although having to see her in a hospital bed, asleep, had not been the plan. With her asleep for a few days with no sign of waking up, even after the withdrawal of the anaesthetic from her system, she should have been awake by now. Jay had only left to get changed and catch a couple of hours of sleep. Will and the intelligence team and Stella Kidd, who had been moved to the respiratory wing after her lung operation, had come to watch over the sleeping girl. Will was busy trying to help his father find a new place to stay, and currently, the man was living with him and driving him up the wall. It didn't help that the doctors had told him to stay off his feet; as a result of that, Will's house now smelt of cigarette smoke, which he was more than delighted about.

Jay found he couldn't care less about Will's woes, not when he was still waiting for his child to wake up.

When Jay came back to the hospital, after Hank and Hailey had sent him home to clean up and have some proper sleep, which there wasn't much of, from the nightmares over the last couple of days. Jay was alarmed at the fact that there was another doctor in his little girl's room with Will, running some sort of test. "What's going on, Will?" He asked cautiously, moving to take the seat beside his daughter.

Will looked to his brother nervously, "Jay, I'm concerned why Y/n hasn't woken up yet, so I called a neurology friend of mine in to consult." Will began, only to receive a dubious look from Dr. Abrams at the mention of the word 'Friends'. The room was silent once again, and the tension was so thick that you could practically cut it with a knife. Jay could feel the annoyance grip his voice, "And?" he snapped. He didn't have the time for this; he just wanted to be with his little girl, hoping that she would open her beautiful eyes sometime soon. Sam took over from explaining what Will was attempting to, seeing as it had gotten stuck in his throat. "Mr Halstead, due to the reduction of brain activity, it's quite likely that Y/n is brain dead."

Jay felt his breath catch in his throat; There was no chance, no way that had just came out of this random doctor's mouth. "Get him outta here, Will." "Jay-" "Now!" He could feel himself shaking in fury; the beeping of the machines drifted into the background as the tears started to fall. Grasping his daughter’s hand tightly in his, he cried; cried for all of the memories that they never got to share, cried for the fact he might never see her grow up, cried that he wouldn't get to walk her down the aisle.

It was Hailey who came back to sit with him; Will must’ve caught her up on everything because she didn’t talk, just hugged Jay from behind. He could feel her tears staining his shirt, and just like any other time, he couldn’t bring himself to care.

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It was a couple of weeks after the fire before Jay returned to work, against Voight’s advice but he couldn’t bear to sit by his daughter’s bedside any longer wishing and hoping that her condition would get better. He needed to catch the bastard stupid enough to start the bloody fire; at least then he would be able to get some kind of retribution for her.

Although he went to see her every day and every time he saw her, his hope of her waking up again drained. More recent EEGs showed a little more brain activity, but not nearly enough to be viable.

Jay gave a tight smile to Kevin as they left the station for the night. Chicago was starting to get cold with winter coming. Jay’s car wasn’t much warmer than outside, although he was thankful to be out of the way of the wind that was blistering its way through the city, making tree branches shake in the wind. He rubbed his hands together and breathed hot air into them in a lazy attempt to warm himself up. It was almost 9pm, there wasn’t much time to go see Y/n, and he debated skipping going tonight; it was late, and he was so tired. But something wouldn’t let him, no matter how much he felt like it. A mix of a sigh and a yawn, Jay turned the key in the ignition and rubbed the sleep from his eyes before starting the fifteen minute drive to med.

He entered med through the main doors, avoiding the E.D completely. He hadn’t seen Will for quite some time, although his brother still did visit his niece most days, just not when he was there.

It seemed almost like Jay was on autopilot. He knew what to expect: go sit in your room, hold your hand, tell you to hurry up and come back to him and then leave after visiting hours were over. The same everyday for the last month. There were little changes to Yn's EEG's in the right direction, although Sam had told him to not get hopeful; that they might not mean anything or lead to her waking up.

As he got closer to his daughter's room, he could hear his brother's voice... and Natalie's. But then there was a laugh, it was yours. Jay added a quip to his step and peered around the corner, scared that this was all in his head and not real life. Maybe he was just having a bad dream and it was all a lie.

Jay could feel the water in his eyes before he even comprehended the scene in front of him. Will and Natalie were both in the room with his daughter, who was sitting up, awake and laughing lightly. Before he could stop himself, he ran down the corridor and into the room, "Sunshine?"